(670 The Score) Despite the gravity of the situation after his team's 6-1 loss to the Astros in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Thursday, White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito will enter his Game 2 start Friday more relaxed and confident than he was a year ago in the first playoff experience of his MLB career.
"I'm definitely not as nervous as I was last year," Giolito said Thursday before Game 1 began. "The nerves kind of ended up working in my favor, kept me focused. But having experience in anything is going to make you more prepared for the next time you do it."
The White Sox will need Giolito's best stuff after they fell behind 1-0 in the best-of-five series. In his lone start in the wild-card round in 2020, Giolito was at his best, throwing seven innings of two-hit, one-run ball to earn a win against the Athletics in his lone playoff outing.
Giolito went 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in this regular season, and he was dominant in his lone start against the Astros. Giolito threw a complete game three-hitter in his team's 10-1 win against the Astros on July 17 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The setting will be different Friday, with the teams squaring off at 1:07 p.m. CT at Minute Maid Park, a venue that Giolito has posted a 1.57 ERA in across three career starts.
"I can draw from experience," Giolito said. "I like this ballpark. I like this mound. But at the same time, every single game's different. So a pitcher can go out there with good stuff, bad stuff, somewhere in between.
"You've got to make sure that … keeping my preparation as sound as possible and being ready to go tomorrow. That's all that matters."
Giolito believes his entire team is better prepared now than it was in 2020.
"I would say we are definitely a better team than last year," he said. "I'd say the talent level is pretty similar, but I would give the edge to this year's team. I would say the focus of this team is higher. I would say the experience for all of us is higher for all of us, especially for a bunch of guys we picked up through trades and free-agent signings. We finally got that postseason last year. That left us wanting more. So now we are very hungry."
Giolito also praised veteran manager Tony La Russa's leadership.
"We've talked a lot," Giolito said. "Leading up to the playoffs, we've had meetings. He's definitely, with his wealth of experience, talked to us about preparation, talked to us about obviously the differences between playoff baseball and regular season baseball and how fun it can be.
"Again, like I don't want to be giving away stuff, so I'll leave it at that."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
